Beyond Top Secret: A Zach Taylor Adventure Page 4

  Finally, the elevator pinged, Sandy, an attractive young woman, stepped out looked around the lobby and spotted Zach. Jake had shown her clips from Zach’s shows, so Sandy knew what he looked like. Because of her appearance, Zach suppressed his suspicions and presented a smile that highlighted his perfect teeth, further elevating his handsome physique. His rugged good looks instantly captivated most women, and Sandy was no exception. Sandy had to force herself to squelch unprofessional thoughts. After a moment she regained her business-like composure, if only temporarily.

  “Mr. Taylor?” Sandy asked.

  “That’s me. So what is this place?”

  “All in good time Mr. Taylor, but as the sign says we are an import-export business.”

  She escorted Zach to the elevator and punched the button for the top floor. From time to time, she would glance over, to secretly indulge her fantasies of the handsome man who stood next to her. The elevator doors opened. Sandy made a beeline to Jake's office with Zach trailing close behind. Jake's appearance furthered the notion of a more dubious intent than what the initial phone conversation suggested. To accompany Zach on one of his extreme adventures was the explanation given. However, a middle-aged man of medium stature with a little extra weight did nothing but validate Zach’s skepticism about the reason he was flown here. Zach justified the trip because a massive influx of cash would help with future adventures. Besides, in all his travels he had never been to the capital.

  Jake stood and walked around the side of the desk with his arm extended for an obligatory welcome gesture.

  “Mr. Dunlap, I am Zach Taylor.”

  “Yes, I recognize you from the Sahara Trek documentary. Let’s drop the formality, you can call me Jake, and I will call you Zach, Okay?”

  “That’s fine.” Zach extended his hand to complete the ritual.

  “Please have a seat.”

  Zach took a seat on a sofa and glanced around the room in an attempt to determine what this man did for a living, unfortunately, there were no telltale signs, so he waited for Jake to start the conversation. Jake’s opening comment instantly put Zach on the defensive.

  “Thank you for agreeing to meet, Zach, but I can tell by your mannerisms that you are highly skeptical about why I asked you here.”

  “The purpose of the meeting is questionable based in part on the oddity of the call, but especially, if you don’t mind me saying so, accentuated by your physical appearance.”

  Jake’s response helped to alleviate some of Zach’s apprehensions. “Touché, I like a man that is direct, and to the point, I have no intention of accompanying you on one of your crazy adventures. Does that help you feel vindicated for being suspicious?”

  “Since you don’t mind me being blunt, what is the real nature of this business and who exactly are you?”

  “You are very perceptive, but then I already know a lot about you, this is not an import-export business, as you suspected, but I am Jake Dunlap.”

  “Is that so?”

  “Which part are you questioning?”

  Zach needed a minute to sort through what he had just heard. He blurted out the first thought that came to mind, “How do you know about me, and what do you know?”

  “Zach, you have been all over the TV with your adventure shows.”

  “That’s true,” thinking, there’s more to his comment than just the shows. “So if not import-export what do you do here?”

  “Let’s just say we are contractors that, from time to time, take assignments from the government.”

  A lengthy pause ensued, in due time, Zach replied, “So what exactly does that mean?”

  “Zach, what do you think of the state of the world?”

  “I think it sucks, why?”

  “Just curious. Why don’t we finish this conversation over dinner tonight? See the sights of DC while you’re here. Sandy will make our dinner arrangements.”

  Jake walked Zach to the door and pointed him in the direction of Sandy’s desk. Sandy looked up from her computer, beamed and began to twirl her hair. She turned her back to Zach, pulled a compact from her pocket, opened it to reveal a small mirror, and did a quick summation of her appearance. Sandy spun back around, and said, “I have your dinner reservation.”

  Zach sensed an almost steamy tone in her voice. The behavior captured Zach’s interest, he smiled then replied, “Thank you.” Followed by a question that caught Sandy completely off guard, “What are you doing for lunch today?”

  “Well, I was just going to eat the salad I brought, why do you ask?”

  “Shall we make a lunch date then?”

  As if it was even possible, her radiant smile grew even more substantial. “Yes, let’s, but I don’t have a lot of time to go somewhere, can we eat in the cafeteria?”

  He attempted to hide his real thoughts but was betrayed by his body language. “That sounds fine.”

  Sandy saw his aversion to the idea and reassured him he would like their cafeteria.

  From his vantage point at the office door, Jake smiled at his previous misconception and thought, I guess this guy isn’t quite as naive about women as I thought. Eventually, after watching the interaction further, Jake closed the office door and returned to his desk.

  In an attempt to restart their conversation, Sandy blurted out, “I think you’ll like the restaurant tonight, Marcel’s has only been open a few years, but gets rave reviews.”

  “That sounds great, so what time shall we go to lunch?”

  “Give me an hour, and I will meet you there.”

  She gave Zach directions to the cafeteria and turned back to her computer. Since he had an hour to kill, Zach decided to do a little detective work. He hoped it would answer some questions that lingered after his talk with Jake. Zach headed to the elevator. His plan was to explore each floor on his way back to the lobby. He looked at the buttons and found it odd that there was no ninth floor. Zach pushed the button for the eighth floor. When the doors opened, he exited the elevator, looked around the area and found the entire level was a glass-encased enclosure. Inside, banks of computers filled the room from floor to ceiling, with incessantly flashing lights on the racks of computer equipment Zach knew the machines weren’t idle. He looked up and realized why the ninth floor didn’t exist. The area above the computers consisted of specialized cooling and fire suppression equipment. Now that he understood the purpose of this floor, he returned to the elevator and pushed the button for the seventh floor. As he rode towards the seventh floor, he thought about the amount of computer power that level must represent.

  As the elevator doors opened, a drab office space appeared before him. The decorative style of the lobby did not exist on this floor. Again, he returned to the elevator. It didn’t take long to discover that except for the second level, stories three through seven were nothing more than offices. The second floor contained several substantial conference rooms with computer monitors that took up entire walls. Currently, none of them were occupied, so Zach snooped around a little to see what he could discover. Unfortunately, a tidy bunch of people seemed to work here, no stray papers, no trash in the receptacles, nothing. Once he discovered this was another dud, he realized his detective efforts shed no light on what they were doing here. Hopefully, dinner would give him some answers.

  Unaware of how much time he had spent snooping, he looked at his watch and decided it was time to make his way to the cafeteria. Outside the entrance, Sandy’s radiant smile returned at Zach’s approach. His preconceived notion of a cafeteria vanished when they entered the room and thought, how the hell do you call this a cafeteria.

  The only similarity between this place and a traditional cafeteria was the fact it had a serving line, but even that was a stretch of the imagination. While there was food on display, it was not for consumption; it provided a visual representation of what you could order. Rather than a typical plain table arrangement, the center of the room had tables covered with white linen tablecloths, table settings to match the most
refined restaurants, and a vase held a single flower. The perimeter of the room had similar tables, but also had soundproof dividers between them, to allow for private conversations.

  Zach looked at Sandy, smiled and nodded his head approvingly. The gesture evoked a wink in response as they approached the serving line. Their first stop was the appetizer station. Today’s selections included; caviar with all the accouterments, reindeer carpaccio drizzled with olive oil and topped with shaved white truffles, foie gras topped with a hazelnut and grape sauce, or a hearts of palm salad. It was a difficult choice, but Zach decided on the carpaccio, while Sandy settled on the hearts of palm salad. You ordered by picking up a card that corresponded with your selection.

  Next, they slid down to the entree station where, on display, they had a choice of; a sixteen-ounce bone-in ribeye, wild boar ragu, roasted duck breast with a caramelized onion and berry sauce, Icelandic cod with a white wine caper sauce, or a swiss chard lasagna. Zach decided it was between the ribeye and duck, he selected the steak, since he didn’t know what would be on the menu at dinner. Sandy picked the cod.

  Side dishes were next. The choices were just as impressive; asparagus tossed with a raspberry vinaigrette, smoked brussel sprouts in a light cream sauce, butternut squash puree, or a roast vegetable medley. Zach chose the brussel sprouts while Sandy decided on the roasted vegetables. They both decided to skip the dessert station but did add a cheese platter as a palate cleanser.

  At the end of the selection station, it could hardly be called a serving station. They handed their choices to a waiter dressed in a white jacket that looked more appropriate for any fine dining establishment, versus what this company called a cafeteria. The waiter took their drink orders, assured them their appetizers would be out shortly and watched to see which table they chose.

  As they sat down, Sandy said, “Jake told me you like fine food, that’s why I thought the cafeteria would work for you.”

  The fact Jake knew this reconfirmed Zach’s impression that his TV shows did not provide everything Jake knew about him. From what Sandy said earlier he knew the answer but asked anyway.

  “Do you eat like this all the time?”

  “No, I normally bring my lunch. In fact, I have a salad in the frig that I will have for dinner after a lunch like this. After all, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to enjoy your company since I don’t know when I might get another chance to see you.”

  “I’ll make a point of looking you up whenever I’m in the area, but unfortunately that isn’t very often. What time are the dinner reservations?”

  “Eight, and you need to be punctual. Jake has a thing about that. Hopefully, dinner will result in you being in the area more often.”

  “We’ll see. If it’s not too late for you, how about meeting for a nightcap when I’m through with my dinner?”

  Sandy blushed, her mind racing. Would this be an innocent after dinner drink, or was a possible sexually charged tryst in the works? “That would be lovely. I think you should be done by eleven. From what I understand there is a beautiful lounge at the restaurant.”

  “Great, I will meet you in the lounge at eleven. If I’m late, it will be your bosses fault.”

  Sandy laughed, and said,”I’ll be sure and scold him if you’re late.”

  The appetizers arrived, and the conversation turned to abbreviated small-talk as they began to enjoy their lunch. When they did talk, there were ample innuendos about their planned rendezvous scheduled for that evening. When they had finished their meal, which deserved a place in the best restaurants, they stood to leave. Zach fumbled in his pocket to retrieve some money as a tip for the waiter. Sandy said, “Don’t bother, I assure you this waitstaff is more than well compensated.”

  Zach returned the bills to his pocket, took Sandy’s hand and gave it a gentle peck, and said, “I look forward to seeing you tonight.” They parted company.

  Chapter 5

  Virginia

  Since Zach had never visited Washington D.C., he was tempted to see the sights. However, the reality of a hearty lunch set in, and a short nap would help prepare him for the evening. It was a pleasant day outside, so Zach decided to walk to what Jake’s company called the hotel. He followed the directions given to him and found the address listed on his note. In front of a building, that had no sign to indicate it was a hotel he checked his directions to confirm this was the right address.

  The building was an old converted colonial house that had eight luxurious rooms, a bar, and an exercise gym. With no name on the outside of the building, the average person wouldn’t go inside in search of a guest room. The house was a company retreat intended only for guests associated with Jake’s business.

  Zach entered the lobby to be greeted by a burly man, not what one would expect from a desk clerk unless you were in a seedy part of town. To Zach, this was just more of the cloak and dagger mystery that seemed to engulf this company, and he was determined to solve the mystery. Again, he looked to dinner to answer all his questions.

  To his left, he saw two gentlemen at a quaint little bar. Zach decided it was time for another attempt at detective work. When he approached the two men, Zach overheard one say something about Yemen and Al Qaeda. The men were aware a non-agent would be a guest at the retreat and responded to Zach’s presence accordingly. Based on Zach’s proximity the dialogue changed abruptly. They started to talk about baseball, with teams and players Zach had never heard. They used some cryptic coded language and continued their conversation as if Zach wasn’t even present.

  Zach thought a little name dropping might break the ice and said, “Hi I’m Zach Taylor, I just got out of a meeting with Mr. Dunlap.”

  The men acknowledged Zach’s presence with a polite hello, then returned to their cryptic conversation. Zach recognized the futility of his endeavor, excused himself and went to his room, where he could take his planned nap. When Zach could no longer overhear them, the men returned to a normal conversation.

  Zach got undressed, fumbled with the alarm, and finally figured out which buttons did what and set it for eighteen hundred hours. Then plopped down on the bed and sank so far into the bed it felt as if he landed in a silo filled with cotton balls. Whoever slept here before him had a disdain for any back support. Zach struggled to reach the bed’s control unit, then punched at the button to increase the mattress's stiffness. As if he had emerged from a cocoon he felt the firmness lift him from the depths of the cotton ball silo.

  Zach fluffed the pillow to get more comfortable. He was ready to give his brain and body a chance to recharge and hoped to get in a nap, if only for a few hours. His mind would not shut off. Thoughts of the day raced at him in an uninterrupted stream of consciousness. Zach felt like a windshield being pelted by bugs as he moved down a road at over a hundred miles an hour. With each splat, another question rushed in, and there were no answers. All Zach could do was file them away for review at a future time. As his mind struggled with so many unanswered questions, thoughts of Sandy materialized.

  She was the bright spot in his day. While he enjoyed good food, lunch with an attractive woman he had a physical attraction to, overshadowed the food, and all the issues that bombarded him. Zach looked forward to his nightcap with Sandy. Thoughts of late night activities replaced all his questions, and he felt sure Sandy had similar ideas. Zach nodded off, his head filled with pleasant images of tonight's rendezvous.

  An incessant beep filled Zach’s head. He looked around for the source of the unwelcome noise. It was the alarm alerting him to the time. Zach sat up, all he could think of was two hours, that’s how long it would be before some of his questions might be answered. At least that was what he hoped. Zach forced himself out of bed and rummaged through his overnight bag. He found the ditty bag that housed all his toiletries and headed for the bathroom.

  Luxury permeated throughout this place, even when it came to the bathroom; first, the faucet handles glistened from the radiance of the highly polished gold fixtures. Secon
dly, the fleece towels were as soft as a newborn baby’s bottom, and finally, the shower had three separate shower heads, that when used in unison captured the essence of standing beneath a giant waterfall.

  Zach had always been a perfectionist, the use of an electric razor was out of the question, they could not produce the smooth shave of a manual blade. He lathered and shaved. Zach moved over to the shower and studied the control panel that managed the unit. He punched in one hundred and ten degrees for the water temperature, choose to use all three shower heads, stepped in and was immediately immersed in the euphoric world this particular shower unit elicited.

  Once his shower was complete, he returned to the bedroom to hunt through his bag for tonight's attire. The clothes he brought needed to be pressed. Zach assumed this place was like all other hotels and had an iron in the closet. When Zach opened the door, a suit hung in the closet with a note attached, tonight's dinner apparel. Zach laughed out loud. He was surprised that he was surprised after all of the day’s events. He examined the suit and determined it should fit, even if it were a little conservative for his taste. Zach was again amazed. The suit fit so well it seemed tailor-made for him. He examined himself in the full-length mirror, satisfied with his appearance.

  When Zach glanced at the clock, he realized he had an hour to kill before dinner. He called down to the desk clerk, and said, “Can you get me a taxi? I want to get a tour of the capitol lit up at night.”

  “I will let the driver know. The town-car will be here in five minutes,” replied the clerk.